View full sizeLynn Ischay, The Plain DealerAllen Kinney, owner of Great Day Tours, the largest tour operator in Ohio, stands with a bus heading to Seneca Allegheny, a casino in Salamanca, N.Y. The bus left the Doubletree Hotel in Independence at 6:50 a.m. Wednesday.

CLEVELAND, Ohio -- For years, tour companies have hauled buses of Northeast Ohioans to other states to gamble - about 1,000 people a week. Now they're ready to steer toward Cleveland.

They say Cleveland's casino isn't ready for them.

Horseshoe Casino Cleveland, scheduled to open May 14, has not come up with packages to attract bus groups -- generally discounted food and free money to play slot machines.

That leaves the tour companies uncertain about how much business they'll find here. Instead, some are planning trips to Toledo and Columbus, where new casinos are expected to offer incentives.

In Cleveland, "there aren't any packages currently, and we will evaluate to see if there's a demand," said Jennifer Kulczycki, communications director for casino developer Rock Ohio Caesars.

Once the casino is open, Kulczycki said, it will analyze where gamblers are from and how they got here.

Kulczycki said the casino is not prohibiting bus tour operators from coming, but tour operators say they need something to work with.

The issue revolves around the perks that casinos use to attract bus groups, known as "bonus slot play incentives." Promotions vary, but the average the slot play bonus is $25 -- generally about the same as the bus fare. Some casinos, like Seneca Allegany Casino & Hotel in Salamanca, N.Y, court bus groups with $40 in slot play.

Marcia PledgerBobby Hardley of Cleveland says he can't wait for the Cleveland casino to open. But he still plans on taking monthly bus trips to casinos that offer slot play incentives. "I'm going to tell you the truth, I'm still going to travel to other casinos by bus. If I go downtown with $50, I don't have anything else coming if I lose it. But if I take a bus trip I'm getting a food voucher and some of my money back."

Frequent casino bus passengers like Bobby Hardley of Cleveland say they look forward to visiting the casino downtown. But that won't affect Hardley's plans to go outside the state.

"I'm going to tell you the truth: I'm still going to travel to other casinos by bus," said Hardley, who takes about three bus trips a month. "If I go downtown with $50, I don't have anything else coming if I lose it. But if I take a bus trip, I'm getting a food voucher and some of my money back."

Allen Kinney of Great Day Tours, the largest tour operator in Ohio, said he plans to bring people to the Cleveland casino, just as he sends buses out-of-state each week to other casinos. He believes Cleveland will offer a program.

"Casinos usually wait a month or two to work out the kinks before they invite and host busloads of people with slot play and/or restaurant perks," Kinney said.

"We get calls daily with groups [in Ohio] wanting to come here. Most want to come by bus rather than worry about parking. We're just waiting to pass along the information."

Tom Goebel, president of Lakefront Lines, isn't as optimistic. He said packages that he promotes range from $25 to $40 in slot play, with a minimum of a five-hour stay.

"The interest in Cleveland is low right now," he said. "They don't have a package that we can sell. We can't promote anything."

Tiffani Hedler, office manager of Candle Coach & Charters in Canton, said people are eager to come to the Cleveland casino. Frequent casino bus riders - primarily seniors -- tell her they're happy about the opportunity to keep their money in Ohio and they're glad smoking is prohibited in Ohio casinos.

But while Hedler is starting to make plans to take people to Toledo and Columbus, she's holding off on sending promotions to her mailing list of 8,300 households until she hears from the Cleveland casino.

Columbus plans to offer $25 in slot play bonuses, Hedler said. She expects something similar in Toledo, although she has not spoken to that casino directly.

"We're mostly known for casino runs. We make trips all over the region," she said. "If we get the same turnout for Cleveland, we could take between 10 to 20 buses a month from the Canton area."

The Rivers Casino in Pittsburgh is among her company's favorite destinations. Rivers Casino hosts about 250 to 300 bus trips a month, with half of those coming from out of state, according to the casino. Less than 10 percent of Rivers' non-bus trip customers are from out of state, mainly from Ohio and West Virginia, according to the company.

Audrey Rombach, group tour coordinator of Lenzner Tour & Travel in Sewickley, Pa., said she doesn't have immediate plans to bring groups to Cleveland.

"A lot of our customers will probably call to say I want to go to Cleveland to see the new casino. But it's a wait-and-see kind of thing," she said. "As I said, Pennsylvania has so many casinos already" -- a total of 11.

"A smaller percentage of revenue and customers come from busing, but it's still a very important revenue stream because they come frequently and they stay longer then the average customer," Buro said. "Busing also fills an important volume gap when there's less traffic on the floor Monday through Friday."

While Cleveland's casino has not announced a marketing strategy, Rock Gaming principal Dan Gilbert has said that he wants Horseshoe Cleveland to attract not only gamblers but also young professionals.

"There's demand from the bus tour operators," Kulczycki said. "Is there demand from their customers? That's what we would like a couple of months to figure out before we make that decision."